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Thursday, February 21, 2013

A few of my friends and I are throwing a baby shower for another friend of ours with a super hero theme. I was excited to have a decorating project to work at so I got going on some decorations right away. I headed over to Pinterest to browse for ideas and came across tissue paper pom-poms. I figured they were cute and I could make them in primary colors to go with our super hero/comic book theme.

I followed a pin to a tutorial by Martha Stewart (wouldn't you know). I couldn't find tissue paper in the size she recommended, everything I found was either square 20"x20" or 20"x16". What I did learn from this is it is best to start with rectangular sheets of tissue paper as square sheets resulted in pom-poms that were not as full looking.

So following the instructions I stacked 8 pieces of tissue paper together (either the 20"x16" or the 20"x20" cut into a more rectangular shape). My first attempt, I didn't quite read the directions correctly and folded each individual sheet before stacking them together..............yeah, that didn't quite work out so well, my pom-pom wasn't very round or full.

I also found out it's important to fold the tissue paper across the longer length (i.e. so there will be more folds, not long folds). Once again when I did it the wrong way my pom-pom failed to be the nice round and full shape I was hoping for.

After the sheets were folded (the correct way), I used floral wire to wrap around the center of the tissue paper, with enough excess wire for hanging.

I then trimmed the ends of the tissue paper to points. You can also make the ends rounded for a softer flower like pom-pom, but per the super hero theme I wanted the pom-poms to look sharper, like "kapow!" poufs if that's a thing :o)

And here you can see how it looks when the folds are stretched out:

Lastly, I separated each of the eight layers of tissue paper to form the pom-pom.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

For Valentine's Day I made a couple small banners to hang in the living room side windows. I wanted something simple that I could do in between time spent entertaining Emma :o) So I thought bunting with a few pennants would fit the bill.

I first decided how large I wanted to make the pennants and made a template:

I then used the template to trace four pennants on white fabric folded over at the top of each pennant:

I cut out each pennant through the two layers of fabric, keeping the fold intact (uncut). I printed out the outline of letters for the word "LOVE" (minus the "O") in a font I liked and traced them onto the pennants, then I filled them in with silver paint:

And for the "O" I cut out a heart from pink felt:

Then glued it to the fabric:

Adding an embroidery back stitch to give it a quilted look:

I then pinned the folded over fabric together, lining up the edges:

And sewed the two sides together, the width of my sewing machine foot, thick enough to fit twin through for stringing the pennants:

Here are the finished pennants:

Then it was just a matter of stringing the pennants on twine and hanging the banner in the window:

1) Take a picture at the thrift store with $20 in my pocket
2) Spend the $20 however I want and take a picture of what I buy (the whole $20 does not need to be spent).
3) Find an item referenced in the lyrics and take a picture.

I was a little weary of flashing a twenty outside the thrift shop, more because I just thought it would look strange to any passers-by than any fear for my safety. So I took a picture of $20 in my pocket as I was heading out to the thrift store :o)

.......... and when I got there I put the $20 in my wallet :o) I went to the Thrift Store Outlet since were having lunch around the corner at Subway so I thought I'd pop in while I was near.

They were having a Saturday 30% off sale so I was in luck. I found a few items for $10.46. And also a stack of luggage for the scavenger hunt portion of the challenge (#3).

And my find for $10.46:

A carved wood jewelry box, a wooden rabbit, and a metal jewelry stand. I saw potential in each one, that with a little paint they could look nice. The rabbit was a bit questionable, but I thought it might work for Easter decor. I just had to do something about his mouth, it looked like he might have once had a life as a vampire rabbit..............Eeekkk!!!:

So with a little paint, I transformed my finds:

And the rabbit doesn't look quite so scary, he's just carrying a bushel of lavender in his little blue basket :o)